Traces of Looting and Destruction

The antiquities museum in the Iraqi city of Mosul is in ruins, with exhibition halls housing piles of rubble and the basement filled with ankle-deep drifts of ash.

After the Iraqi army reclaimed government buildings and the museum in Mosul from DAESH last week, it was revealed this weekend that the museum, which once contained many priceless, unique artifacts, had been almost completely cleared out and destroyed by the militant group.

The memory of the images broadcast by DAESH of members of the group smashing large statues and antiquities will still be present in people’s minds.

Once forces had secured areas of west Mosul it emerged that the museum—which had been used as a base during the fighting—had been completely cleared out and decimated.

“They only destroyed that which they couldn’t loot, so many of the smaller items are gone,” Lieutenant Colonel Abdel Amir al-Mohammedawi, of the Rapid Response Division, said. “They did not just steal the artifacts, they have stolen part of Iraqi history—part of my history.” he added.

Dismantled winged bulls, known as lamassu, as purposefully as any decapitation in Mosul.

What DAESH left behind is an empty shell of a building, filled with rubble and with soldiers using the building as cover from enemy fire.